Code:Queen
by Aiko Isari
Summary: AU/spinoff. She does not know why she is here in this filthy underground, staring at such a tiny girl. But, over years of loops and wishes and summons, Sayo has learned there is a reason for everything, even if it is coincidence. Rating subject to change
1. Servant

_Warning for: slightly graphic violence, those worms, child abuse, suffering, death. I mean, one of the fandoms is Fate/Zero._

* * *

I. Servant

This time is different.

She knows it, knowing it by the smell of sulfur, of magic eater monsters that makes her think of _squids_ and squashing them beneath her heels, knowing it by the loss of innocence in the taste of the blood-stained floors.

She knows it because it is not _Soul_ which is flowing through her but something else, something that her mind tells her is called _mana,_ It is warm and soft and airy, pumping a heart she doesn't need and a body that requires only little sustenance.

She smiles, expression soft, reflexive. She casts her eyes about the underground room. The worms squirm, wanting her, wanting so much of her.

 _Never again, you little_ mongrels.

She turns her eyes from the ceiling and towards the ground, towards the summoner. She has not ever been _summoned_ before, not in a magical sense. She's been called to rooms, certainly. But this is new and different. Sayo thinks she might like it.

At least, until she sees her summoner.

Small, feeble body, purple hair. The similarities are uncanny. She touches her own locks, runs the ends through her fingers. The blank eyes reflect her. They have nothing in them that they should. She is not surprised. This place smells wrong for a child.

The words leave her lips in a voice that sounds heavier than she thought it would. "I ask of you," her words are so formal, it's almost like the cage-den, "Are you my Master?"

She does not understand but the thoughts twist in her mind and explain. She is a _Servant,_ a weapon to fight for the Holy Grail and get her wish granted. What wish could something grant that she was not able to do herself?

 _Freedom from the loops?_

Hah. Nah. That would get her into the loops all the tighter.

"Are you my Master?" she repeats. Her voice is still soft, she's careful to avoid startling the person, her summoner, this poor little girl. It seems like she's too empty to be surprised but Sayo knows better. She knows how it is to be a shattered corpse-child and come to life in baby steps.

"I..." The girl speaks and reaches out a hand, one with an odd red marking, like a flower on the moon. Then, of course, she faints.

Sayo makes a note to find her tormentors and throw them to their own worms.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** _ So... this is an idea. I blame all the Fate/Zero videos I've been watching lately. For the moment, I have about half of this planned out and a loose idea of the ending. Let's just see where this takes us. But for now, let's focus on Sakura. She has a new guardian and we need to figure out how. Enjoy!

Challenges: Halloween Trick or Treat Bag day 22. Write a crossover with a Halloween theme. (And what is Fate/Zero known for? Summooning 'spirits'? See what I did there?), gameverse boot camp prompt 'righteous', and Diversity Writing Challenge I15. a multichapter with no prologue or epilogue.


	2. Home

II. Home

The girl's room is farther up, from the scents she can grasp at this distance. She picks her up carefully, noting the brittleness of her bones and skin. It's a familiar sensation, one she remembers from her own hands. Sayo lets out a mental sigh.

This contract is altering her thought processes. Not that that's new. Multiple timelines and legends create a person who can simply express things in multiple ways because they were raised differently. The formality in her skin is uncomfortable, however, a remnant of a life she doesn't want to remember at all. But of course, she does.

It might be easier to be formal for this, keep her distance. She does not like this game, this death-fight. She wants to never be a part of it. However, being a Servant automatically means she is. She keeps her guard up.

She carries the girl up, silent, thoughtful. Mana permeates from the very foundations of the land, twisting like ripped ribbons and clawing for food. How distasteful.

The room is plain, sheets barely used. Sayo supposes her young mistress spends most of her time in the place where she had been summoned in. That wouldn't be the case any longer, not if she had anything to say about it. But first, information.

She sets the girl down and tucks her in with a distant ease from centuries of repeated routine. Then she goes to the bookshelves, each almost creaking with the weight of the books. She picked one at random and sat in a dusty chair, starting to read.

She wakes from a doze, not from the stirrings of her master, but from a blue-haired boy opening the door. He thinks he's being a sneaky. She makes a blade of ice and throws it at the door. She smells the urine.

Perhaps that response was overkill.


	3. Master

III. Master

"Who are you?"

He's trying to be threatening. He's failing. A little boy with blue hair hasn't been intimidating to her in such a long time. Sayo regards him. Shaking legs, a baleful glare that signifies his own powerlessness, and yet he tries to stand there with someone else's power. She is surprised he is still alive in a place that stinks of death. Perhaps it's because he's small enough. Maybe she should take him too, when she leaves.

Because staying here is forbidden. Sayo has enough memories of awful places to live. She doesn't need _more_ of them, especially with little girls that are too close to _her_.

"You've woken her," she says instead. She can hear the changes in the girl's breathing.

"Who cares?" His voice is somewhat dismissive for a child. She almost considers dismissing him if it weren't for the tremulous waver in his voice. "Sh-She's just something f-for g-grandfather to use."

Oh _that's_ a disgusting image. She hopes it's not the way she's thinking. Sayo imagines the squirming of the worms in the dungeon and scowls. Never mind, it most certainly is. This poor girl.

Good thing she has been trained to save people. Except well, it's usually with her Dianamon, or her partners. This will be… different.

She raises an eyebrow at the boy. "I guess I could say the same about you: who cares? Now depart." She turns before he can bristle and raise his voice, kneeling to the little girl. She can deal with him at a later time. "Hello, little master," she greets, smiling a little. "Are you going to tell me your name now?"

The girl blinks dazed purple eyes at her. "Sa-Sakura."

Oh the similarity is too rich. "Hello," she says. "My name is Sayo. How did you summon me?"

The little boy thumps to the ground in a dead faint.

Oh well.


	4. Attained

IV. Attained

The girl – Sakura, have to remember, they even look rather alike- looks ready to faint herself at the sound of the thump. Sayo leans closer, looking at the pale complexion of the skin, the spotty purple turn of the hair. She notices the brittle stance of her legs. She needs to be fed and bathed and cared for. She won't be a source of energy otherwise.

Not that she _should_ be in any scenario But unfortunately, that was more than likely to be the case. So, in order to bear with that, she would need to be healthy and fed and knowledgeable. For the war.

The war that never avoided a master. If she was Chosen, her Sakura, then she was significant in the war. It would be unavoidable. So, in order to survive, she needed to be kept healthy and healed. They would think about victory after.

She looks down at the barely conscious girl. Her fingers twitchs at the weary breathing. Then she reaches over and offers her hand. "Come, master," she says. "You need to eat. And we need to talk. Is that acceptable?"

She doesn't like the way this spell makes her talk and think. It is like a knight.

She is a Night Claw, not a knight.

Sakura's lips twitch. "Food?"

"Yes," she agrees. It was something she didn't need in this form, but a small child, especially a malnourished one, would definitely require.

It would be interesting to see if food replenished mana though. She would have to see.

"Come along?"

Hesitation. "Grandfather will be angry."

The word, a term of endearment, is too stiff. She understands at once. "I believe he will settle, with time." The girl trembles. Sayo softens her voice even more. "You cannot please him if you are dead before he wants you to be."

The indecision fades, and the girl reaches out her arms to be picked up.


	5. Mana

V. Mana

Everyone looked at her quite strangely when she carried Sakura around like a bride. She was not sure if it was over that or her hair. Either was probably a shocker in this gloomy place.

"Miss, you look like a Matou," Sakura's voice was a whisper in the dark and gloom. Sayo frowned. Family name, powerful, in this case intimidating. Like Sakura was intimidated. Not good.

"I'm afraid I was not born to the family, as far as I am aware." Now if they _were_ somehow related, Sayo was going to demand this side of her family be _drowned._ Destroying children… what good were mages like this? They were weak and spoiled the air. "To be fair, my lineage is unusual at best." And ridiculous at worst.

"Mm." They reached the kitchens and to the surprise and dismay of the few servants there, Sayo set to work, chopping up ingredients left in the fridge. She doesn't ask for permission and everyone seemed too intimidated to bring it up. So she finished washing and chopping and took a pot. Sakura watched from the tiny stool she was set on, trying to see everything her Servant was doing. She was trying to hide her curiosity and desire to be involved. Next time, perhaps. She d keep her eyes dull, but Sayo knew blank stares. She'd worn them. She'd gotten to this girl just in time. She smiled at her and sipped at the broth. She searched for bread. No one moved.

"Oh stop that," she told them all. "I'm not going to eat you. Your lady summoned me and I decided food was necessary. There's enough that you all can share. Now please help me find the bread."

"The master is not going to like this," quavered one.

Sayo scowled coldly. "Let him," she said with a savage smile. "It serves him right for making a place so unhealthy. And let him say it himself instead of from terrified pups."

The titters of affront only amused her. She knew a hellstorm was coming.


	6. Circuits

_Warning for mention of leeches and slight Moon spoilers._

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VI. Circuits

After the girl is fed and relaxing very slowly (and here she had thought that she was paranoid, Sayo sets to work. They stand outside, in the courtyard, Sakura watching, blank eyes fascinated despite all of her will. Sayo practices, moving her body. The ice comes more naturally than it ever has in her previous loops. She smiles to herself and reaches further, deeper in-

Because there's so much more she can do, you know? She is a top Tamer for a reason. She is a top Tamer because she can _fight._ And she can't say she doesn't enjoy it.

She murmurs to the air a single word, " _Titrel._ "

It answers, appearing from sparkling blue light. The master's eyes are upon the two of them and the blade, thus, is silent. Or maybe it just doesn't know what to do with the situation, or maybe it has been altered.

Suddenly, the master goes tense, even quieter than before. She smells worms as she dips her head.

However, Sayo does not turn. This is not her mother and she will not cower to a human.

Not again.

Her master remains stiff as a board, so she acknowledges it and moves more easily between them with a single practice swipe. She doesn't deign to look at the new arrival, but carrion crows smell better than him.

"It looks as though someone was playing with her uncle's toys." The croon only earns Sayo's eyes narrowing into slits.

"Indeed," she says. "And to whom do I owe the displeasure of meeting?"

Another wet chuckle. It isn't the wet of his own tears, but like bloated leeches hitting the ground. "I? I am merely her grandfather, welcoming her to a game she is not yet ready to play."

Sayo finally looks at him and smiles. "Aye," she says with a laugh. "Pardon me if I don't believe you."

"Pardon me if I do not feel any concern. After all you will end up disappearing, which matters not, so long as we obtain the grail."

"Humans were not meant for such a paltry, fickle power." She knows this because she owns it.

"And yet here you are seeking it."

Sayo's smile widened. "Not by choice, I do believe."

The Matou head smiled. "You have no choices. You never have."

 _I don't need a worm with legs to tell me that._


End file.
